The Netherlands bans Palestinian doctor Ghassan Abu-Sittah from entering the country

While Foreign Minister Hanke Bruins Slot shakes hands with one Israeli official after another involved in serious crimes in Gaza, the Dutch government bans British-Palestinian doctor Ghassan Abu-Sittah from entering our country. The surgeon, who is also vice-chancellor of the University of Glasgow, witnessed the Israeli massacre in Gaza during the early months of Israel’s offensive.

Abu-Sittah would be in the Netherlands next week. He would speak at the University of Amsterdam, and on May 17 at an event of The Rights Forum in Pakhuis de Zwijger in Amsterdam. He would also meet with Dutch MPs, including Kati Piri (GroenLinks-PvdA) and Ruben Brekelmans (VVD).

Operating in Gaza

Immediately after the brutal attack by Hamas in southern Israel on October 7, 2023 and the first Israeli retaliatory attacks, Abu-Sittah traveled to Gaza, as he had done in three previous Israeli attacks. He performed operations there continuously for six weeks. He often spoke to the international press from Gaza about the disaster that was unfolding there.

Since returning home to his hometown of London, he has given numerous interviews criticizing Israel’s unprecedented violence – ‘the killing machine masquerading as a state’. He also set up the Ghassan Abu-Sittah Children’s Fund for the injured and traumatized Palestinian children in Gaza.

EU-wide ban imposed by Germany

On April 12, he was denied entry to Germany upon arrival by plane in Berlin. Abu-Sittah would speak about his experiences in Gaza at the Palestine Congress. The congress, which was supposed to last three days, was banned by the authorities after the first speaker; Hundreds of attendees were evicted from the streets by the police with a great show of force, and Abu-Sittah was sent home by plane.

“This is what accomplices to a crime do,” https://twitter.com/MiddleEastEye/status/1778874976231125390 on that occasion. “They hide the evidence and silence or intimidate the witnesses.” Germany is a loyal ally and one of Israel’s largest arms suppliers.

Since October 7, 2023, numerous gatherings have been banned by the German authorities and numerous demonstrators against Israeli violence have been arrested, including many Jews. The ‘Archive of Silence’ kept by German scientists gives an impression of the scale on which unpleasant sounds are suppressed in our eastern neighbors.

Last Saturday, May 4, Abu-Sittah was also denied entry to France. Upon arrival in Paris, where he was due to speak at a Senate symposium, he was told that Germany had imposed a one-year Schengen-wide ‘administrative ban’ on him. A reason for this was never given.

Freedom of speech

The Netherlands is now following the German and French example. The reason for the refusal to admit Abu-Sittah is only reference to the administrative ban.

“During the event organized by The Rights Forum on Friday, May 17, Abu-Sittah would also speak about the suppression of apparently unpleasant voices in Germany and France,” says director Gerard Jonkman of The Rights Forum.

At the event, which will take place despite the absence of Abu-Sittah, chairman Wieland Hoban of the Jewish organization Jüdische Stimme fürkeukens Frieden in Nahost, one of the organizers of the banned Palestine Congress in Berlin, will also speak. A few weeks before the congress, the organization’s bank account was blocked under pressure from the authorities. In 2019, a previous bank account of Jüdische Stimme was closed.

Jonkman: ‘It is shocking and, as far as we are concerned, completely unacceptable that Abu-Sittah is now also refused entry to the Netherlands. Apparently our government views his testimony as a threat to the close ties with Israel and Dutch complicity in the massacre in Gaza. The decision is completely against basic freedoms such as freedom of expression.’